Paradise Lost
by its-amagicalplace
Summary: When team BUS crash land on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere, they soon come to realise that their adventures have only just begun. AU.
1. Chapter 1

All things considered, they were lucky to be alive.

Yes, they were on an island in the middle of the ocean, with no means of escape and no viable means of communication with the outside world. Yes, the BUS was a complete write-off mess, having one broken wing and a smashed up underside to name only a few issues. Yes, they only had limited supplies of water and food that would probably last them a week, possibly two if they rationed it carefully.

But at least they were alive.

The problems had started approximately seven hours ago, whilst they had been flying over the Pacific Ocean. They'd been en-route to identify an 0-8-4, and the whole team had been spread out across the BUS, busy preparing for the mission in their own ways – Fitzsimmons had been messing around in the lab, Skye had been doing background research with Ward, and Coulson had been in his office sorting through last minute prep.

May had been the first to realise something was wrong. She'd been flying the plane manually for the past few hours, but had decided to take a break and see if she could help the others for a bit. She'd gone to switch the system over to autopilot, and it wouldn't work. She'd frowned, and flicked the switch a few more times just in case it was jammed, but no. the autopilot for the plane was completely inactive. She could fly the plane manually no problem, but the fact it wouldn't switch on was a concern.

Next thing she knew the radar had picked up multiple objects travelling through the sky towards them at an alarming rate. She didn't know what they were, but judging on the speed and direct path they were moving on, she guessed missiles. Immediately setting off the alarms to warn the others something was wrong, she began to manoeuvre the plane in order to avoid them. Meanwhile, whilst she was throwing the BUS across the sky in a desperate attempt to lose the missiles tracked to them, she'd tried to get in contact with a S.H.I.E.L.D base somewhere, anywhere, to send a message for help. There had been no reply. But May wasn't sure the message had even been sent out. Almost as though the communication system was not working either…

Coulson had come running into the cockpit to see what was happening, and she'd told him in short fast sentences that things were bad.

"Objects incoming. Possibly missiles. Systems are failing. No comms, no autopilot. Everyone needs to get out. Now."

She'd meant for them to try and escape in a pod or to take parachutes, but before they got the chance the missiles had levelled on either side of them, and she'd had to take immediate evasive action.

Her flying skills were what had most likely saved them.

She'd managed to dodge them as they had closed in around them, and at the last minute had pulled up, resulting in the two missiles colliding with each other just below them. The explosion however had then damaged the underside and landing gear of the plane, and fuel had begun leaking in vast torrents out of the BUS. This, combined with the quickly decreasing number of working electronics, had meant that she'd needed to get them on the ground, and fast.

The first bit of land she could find had been part of a group of small islands, and so, apologising for the speed of the descent, she practically dropped the plane. It was that or fall out of the sky, and out of the two options she knew the islands were their best shot. The BUS came down onto a patch of sand on the shore of one of the islands. One of the wings had hit an area of rock as they'd come down and was ripped in half just prior to landing; she hadn't exactly had that much space for manoeuvring, and the priority was getting them all down alive.

But there they were. Shaken. Stranded. Confused.

But alive.

On an island in the middle of the ocean, with nothing but a broken BUS and each other.

And that was where the adventure began.

* * *

_So this is the start of a new fic I'm working on. As opposed to a continuous story I'm hoping to do a load of various snapshots about their life on the island, what happens, how they bond/fight, issues, etc._

_Please review and let me know what you think!_


	2. Chapter 2

It was like something out of a dream. Or a nightmare. Depending on how one looked at it.

Coulson had been making his way back to warn the rest of the team when the explosion had ripped through the undercarriage of the plane. He'd been thrown to the ground, and had sprained his wrist and hit his head, resulting in what he decided was a minor concussion. Skye had been with Ward in the training zone, having finished their research and planning to get some sparring practise in. He had tried his best to shield her from any danger as soon as he'd heard Coulson's shouts to get to safety, meaning Skye was relatively unharmed, whereas he had what he believed to be a couple of broken ribs, due to them being thrown against one of the SUV's in the cargo hold as the BUS rolled across the sky. Fitzsimmons had been in the lab, and had had the common sense to strap themselves into seats in there as soon as May had sounded the alarm – they were pretty much unharmed apart from being shook up. May on the other hand had split her head open on the control panel of the cockpit during the landing. She was bleeding slowly from a wound on her forehead, but it wasn't overly deep. A few stitches would close it up. She'd had worse. They all had.

Once the BUS had been on the ground, with engines off and all power down, the team had made their way to the cargo ramp, which had partially caved in on impact, and all just sat there in a stunned silence, contemplating what in the hell had just happened. Coulson had been the first to speak.

"Well done May" he'd said quietly.

"Is that serious or sarcastic?" she quipped back, adrenaline still rushing through her body, knowing full well that she had landed them in the middle of nowhere.

"Serious." He turned to look at her properly. "You managed to avoid those missiles and get us down here in one piece, of course I'm serious."

"Missiles?!" cried Skye. "What the hell happened?"

May proceeded to relate what she knew about the autopilot failing, the comms system being down, and then the incoming missiles to the rest of the team.

"Is it possible it's all connected?" asked Jemma softly.

They all glanced at each other, before Fitz spoke.

"If an enemy was in the vicinity and they had the necessary technology, it is possible that they could have transmitted as signal towards us that resulted in the shut-down of electronic devices, such as the comms." He paused, before turning to May. "Did you notice any other objects on radar, any other planes of anything?"

She shook her head.

"No. There was nothing, and then everything. All at once."

The team sat in silence for a while, listening to the soft crashing of waves upon the sand in front of them. Skye got up and wandered back inside the BUS on her own. Ward watched her go, and thought about the missiles.

"Unless they had some form of cloaking device, those missiles must have been sent from ground level" he chipped in. He was a specialist. He knew weapons. He knew missiles. And so he knew about range and projection of alignment, and the thought of the BUS being targeted from the ground was uncomfortable. That was some long range missile technology. He also knew that it was more than likely that the BUS had been targeted on purpose. One missile could have been a terrible error – two had intent. Two missiles meant somebody had wanted to blow them out of the sky.

Skye returned, bringing with her a cool box filled with bottles of beer. She handed them out, and they all took one in silence. Given that there was virtually no power to the BUS, they knew that these could have been the last proper cold drinks they had for a while.

The team were all sat on the edge of the cargo ramp, battered and bruised, and slightly in shock, but alive, looking out into the sunset over the ocean.

This had not been part of any plan.

Who the hell had tried to kill them, and why?

The scent of salt water in the evening breeze mixed with the strong smell of fuel that was still leaking out of the underside of the BUS, creating a cocktail of realisation for the team to inhale. This was actually happening. It was real. Behind them lay a vast green jungle, and they could hear the calls of the native wildlife singing their evening songs. The golden sand on either side of them seemed to extend for miles, creating the illusion of an endless expanse of paradise. But they knew that this was no paradise.

They were stranded.

* * *

_Thanks for the reviews and follows etc. _

_I don't know how many chapters this will be...probably quite a few :)_

_I don't own AOS or Marvel etc._


	3. Chapter 3

There was something strangely unnerving yet simultaneously beautiful about the first night on the island.

The team spent a long time just sat on the cargo ramp, discussing what had happened, what the plan was, and how they could possibly get any form of help. As the sun had been setting, it had been beautiful; a rainbow of orange, pink and red caressing the waves of the ocean ahead of them.

But once the sun had set, the realisation set in that there was no light. Literally none. Living in a city for most of their lives, the team had never truly appreciated true darkness; the darkness that encroached upon them and enveloped them all in a blanket of soft oblivion. The BUS had little power remaining, and they weren't going to waste it on lighting. The stars above appeared brighter than any of them had ever seen (except May, who had often spent nights they were flying in the cockpit watching the stars; at 36,000ft there's no light either). Every constellation was visible to them; every cluster, every planet, every twinkling light. It was an astronomer's paradise.

The moon that rose above the island basked them in a soft white glow, allowing them to see each other, but not much else.

It was beautiful. No doubt about it.

It reminded Phil of New Mexico, when the portal to Asgard had opened and Thor and the warriors had returned. The beauty of the galaxy was still something he appreciated.

As the sun had set, the island had quietened down too. The sounds from the jungle behind them – birds singing, crickets chirping – had faded away gradually, leaving nothing but the occasional calling noise echoing through the night. Fitz was positive that they were monkeys, and he excitedly promised that he was going to find out one day. Something told them they would all be there for a while – they couldn't explain why – so when he said "one day", nobody argued that they'd probably be gone within a week. They knew they wouldn't.

One by one, the team returned to their bunks – there was nothing they could do in the darkness anyway except sleep. In the morning, once the sun had risen and light once again gained them access to their vision, things would change. They would have to try and figure out what had happened to the BUS, see if they could set up some form of emergency signal. They would need to explore the island properly, to try and find some form of food, to see if it was inhabited, if there were any dangers there.

But for now, they could do no more than sleep, and after the day they'd just had, they were all exhausted.

* * *

_Don't own Marvel or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D etc._


	4. Chapter 4

_Note: I apologise for how long it has been since I updated, but given recent aviation events (mainly the crash of flight MH17, may all souls on board rest in peace) I have been unsure as to whether to continue this story. There are similarities as this obviously features the BUS being targeted by missiles, which is the main theory behind the loss of that aircraft. However, I have decided I will continue, because this is after all a piece of fiction, and has no relation to the current events. If anyone has any concerns, please feel free to message me. _

_I don't own Marvel or S.H.I.E.L.D etc._

* * *

The sun rose the next morning early, around 4am, and the gentle glow illuminated the BUS and the island gradually. May was the first to awaken, as she usually got up early anyway to carry out her tai-chi routine, but today, she almost felt an urge to remain in bed, which was completely unlike her. There was no plane to fly, no mission to attend. If she wanted, she could sleep some more, and nobody would need her. But she didn't. she knew they would need to keep to some form of routine, regardless of where they were and how long they would remain there for.

She dressed quietly, opting for a simple vest top and a pair of leggings, remaining in bare feet. She headed out of her room and clambered off the edge of the cargo ramp onto the soft sand of the beach below. The sunlight hadn't had a chance to warm the sand up yet, but it wasn't cold. She took a deep breath, inhaling the clean salty air, and began her usual routine.

She loved tai-chi. It filled her with a sense of calm, of relaxation. It helped her to forget any troubles she had, and in the moment she could stop being an agent, and just be. She moved her arms out and back in front of her, breathing carefully and slowly, and listened as she heard the sounds of the birds in the forest behind her begin to awaken and rise themselves.

After around twenty minutes, she heard the sound of somebody coming down the cargo ramp, but she didn't need to turn round to see who it was. She knew Coulson's steps, and Ward could move silently when he wanted to. No, the person behind her was Fitz, and whilst she was slightly surprised, she didn't stop or look over. He didn't seem to mind. He simply sat down on the edge and watched her move.

Once she had finished her routine, she turned to look at him, and gave a small smile as she sat on the ramp next to him. It was just the two of them awake it seemed. They didn't often have much time together, and she felt she had little in common with the engineer really, but the quiet was comfortable.

"You did well yesterday, May" Fitz said quietly after a while. "Thank you."

She turned her head slightly to look at him, but he was focused on the light reflecting off the surface of the ocean ahead, so she watched that instead.

"It was close" she murmured. It had been. She hadn't admitted to the rest of them how close it had been; in the perfect calm of the morning, she was having trouble comprehending that yesterday had actually happened.

The two remained quiet again for a while. The sound of the waves lapped at the shore.

"I'm going to start looking into the emergency signal transmitter this morning" Fitz announced. "Even if there was a complete failure in electronic systems, there should still be a way of setting it up to send out some form of signal."

"I'll help as best I can" May replied. It was her BUS (well, she piloted it, and she liked to think of it as her own, even though it technically wasn't), and she knew it well. The two of them were probably the only two who would know enough about the aircraft and the engineering behind it to be able to sort out setting up a signal.

Fitz nodded in reply.

"Thanks. I know where the beacon is located, and I know the basics of the electronics in this thing, but you know the controls better than anyone else here, so I will need your help at some point."

...

Coulson had been awake for around half an hour before he finally got out of bed. He hadn't exactly slept much the previous night, more that he had laid there and internally debated how the hell they were in such a mess. Somebody had tried to shoot them down. And if May was right about the systems, nobody would know they were here.

He sighed and opened his wardrobe door, staring at the selection of clothes in front of him. He had a feeling that a suit was not exactly the right thing to be wearing on a tropical island. Especially given that it would than likely get very hot throughout the day. He eventually settled on a plain black t-shirt and some simple joggers. It was casual, more like his work-out gear than an actual outfit, but he didn't have much else to choose from. Damn him and his constant love of smart tailoring.

He headed out across the BUS and took in the silence around him. He would have taken a guess that the rest of the team were still asleep, except maybe May, who often rose early. His suspicions were confirmed when he passed her room and noticed the door wide open, and her not inside. He decided to see if she was doing her tai-chi in the hangar, or outside. She had tried to teach him once, many years ago, but he lacked both the concentration and the fluidity that she seemed to possess effortlessly. Instead, he simply liked to watch as she flowed through her routines. It filled him with a sense of calm, and let him collect and organise his thoughts.

As he walked towards the hanger however, he was slightly surprised to hear the soft Scottish tones of Fitz outside. He stopped to look, and sure enough the young engineer was perched on the edge of the cargo ramp with May. The two were discussing something, probably to do with the electronics and getting the systems back up and running, he thought. As he watched, he couldn't help but smile slightly. He'd asked May back into the field to try and see if she was still there, the May he knew. She'd lost so much in Bahrain, and he wanted to help her try and find herself. It had been hard at the start – she didn't want to be in the field, and she was constantly surrounded by a new team of younger agents who knew her solely by reputation – something she hated. But as time went on, she had grown to care for them all. She didn't have to tell him that, Phil just knew.

As if she could read his thoughts, May turned around to look at him, and gave a small smile, inviting him down to join them both. As he did, Fitz made some excuse that he would leave them to it, which earned him a Melinda May eye-roll, but he left all the same. Phil took his place, and he and May sat and watched the waves roll up the golden sand ahead.

"I know I should feel scared, or worried, or even angry about all this" she murmured softly to him. "But I just don't. All I feel is calm. Is that wrong?"

He shook his head in reply. "No, it makes sense. Missions, aliens, S.H.I.E.L.D; sitting here, everything feels like it's from another world."

"Yes. It does."

They both knew it wasn't however. What had happened was real and as much as this place seemed like paradise, they didn't belong.


End file.
